Election Eve: Second Longest Day

If Election Day promises the longest day of the 2012 campaign season, today offers a strong rival.

Republican Mitt Romney opened the final day of his pitch for the presidency with a morning campaign rally in Sanford, Florida, and four stops and four states later he will close with a rally near midnight in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“We need every vote,” Romney said in Sanford, a state in which the better independent polls have portrayed as a toss-up in the closing days of the campaign. “Tomorrow, we begin a new tomorrow.”

Obama closed Ohio last night with Stevie Wonder, and closed Virginia Saturday night with the Dave Matthews Band. This morning he was bringing Bruce Springsteen to Madison, Wisconsin — a defensive last stop in a state he has counted on winning — before taking “The Boss” along to rallies in Columbus, Ohio, this afternoon and Des Moines this evening.

Romney is closing with Kid Rock in Manchester tonight.

The get-out-the vote machinery is in full swing.

For Facebook followers who have asked to follow the campaigns, a message from Obama for America arrived this morning with instructions for finding one’s polling place.

It came with the photograph shwon above, which looks more like the president and first lady heading to a salsa dance than going to the polls — probably because they’ve already early-voted, like nearly 30 percent of all Americans surveyed.